Cutting carbon is 'only way' to protect seafood

SCIENTISTS have warned that cutting global emissions is "the only way" to safeguard marine life in continental shelf waters, which are major sources of the world's seafood.

- REBECCA SPEARE-COLE

A team of researchers analysed 20 years of data from 14 continental shelves around the world, including the European shelf which stretches from France, around Ireland and the UK and up to Norway.

They looked at how the movement of water on and off these shelves in the ocean affects how much planet-heating carbon their water retain.

The oceans are absorbing more and more carbon from the atmosphere as global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities continue to rise.

In their study, published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, the scientists found continental shelf waters can see a low level of water movement.

This means higher and higher levels of carbon builds up in these areas, which in turn makes the water more acidic.